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Regional
Dairy Development and Training Team for asia and the Pacific, Chiangmai,
Thailand.

Regional
Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok,
Thailand.

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)
Rome, 1993

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Abstract

In most countries in the Asian region, ruminant animals, particularly cattle and buffalo, have an important economic role in village farming systems to provide milk, draught power, manure, meat and hides. Milk is an important constituent in the diet of large populations in countries like India and Pakistan. Its value is being increasingly recognized in other countries in the region too. Increasing incorporation of milk in the diets of the people in the region focuses attention on the value of milk not only as a source of nourishment for the rural small scale producer but also as a source of supplementary income for them.

High population densities in the region make it essential that the production systems should ensure the optimum utilization of scarce land resources, whether it be for production of food or other crops. In this context, the vast capacity of cattle and buffalo to convert crop residues and by-products into economically useful products has to be used to the best advantage of the small scale producer in particular.